Art of Manipulation
by ncfan
Summary: They are still children, if only in name. Slight Ishida x Orihime.


**Characters**: Ishida, Orihime**  
Summary**: They are still children, if only in name. Slight Ishida x Orihime.**  
Pairings**: Slight Ishida x Orihime**  
Warnings/Spoilers**: Only vague spoilers**  
Timeline**: No set timeline**  
Author's Note**: Considering it's me, I suppose this had to be a _little _depressing, but I guarantee you it's not nearly as depressing as some of the other IshiHime stuff I've written. Actually, this didn't end up being all that depressing at all, which surprises me.**  
Disclaimer**: I don't own Bleach.

* * *

For some reason, Orihime still retains that sweet, gentle smile in the face of violence and death and all the things that should break and have broken those far more jaded, far more cynical, far more hardened than she. She's always ready with her smiles for anyone who needs them. The giver who never stops giving even when she has nothing left for herself.

However, even with all those smiles, she is a little broken herself. If not broken, then starting to show cracks and tears like a book that's been restored so many times that the original text has been lost.

Pale and a little sad, something different from what she used to be, but still there, still breathing. Still giving cause for hope, to all who know her.

"Hello!" School's just let out, and the weather's starting to get warmer again, the sun bathing the earth enough that the students of Karakura High have shed their thick winter coats and donned lighter jackets instead. Ishida is starting to make his way towards home when Orihime approaches him out of nowhere, standing at his left shoulder and smile flashing so brightly that he has to wonder if it's electrically powered. That wouldn't surprise him at all.

Ishida nods as his lips spasm in the quirk of a half-smile, the closest thing to an actual smile he can manage under normal circumstances. "Hello."

"Have you heard about the opening of the new public art gallery downtown?" Orihime is, as usual, a master of broaching completely random subjects, but Ishida doesn't really mind.

"Yes; the old one burned down a few months back. The openings tonight, I think."

A group of freshman walk past (_I swear they keep getting smaller_, Ishida thinks as he peers clean over the head of a freshman boy), chattering excitedly; Orihime waits until they have gone, a good ways down the street, to speak.

The question Orihime asks next is what proceeds to throw Ishida for a loop. "Well… Do you want to go with me?"

Ishida nearly snaps his neck whipping his head around to stare at her.

Ishida is not nearly as emotionally mature as he would like others to believe. Out of all of his human friends, he was forced to grow up the fastest, but that was not entirely conducive to fostering an emotionally healthy mindset, and he still tends to react irrationally at times to things that those older than him would face with relative equanimity. He behaves like an adult (or tries to) but at times still reacts the same way anyone would expect someone his age to.

"Inoue-san, I have homework." Ishida gestures to the bag hanging off his shoulder; his voice comes somewhere between a protest and an apology. "I'm sorry, but—"

"Oh, come on! I know you like this sort of stuff."

"Well…yes, I do," he admits, almost absently, but almost immediately winces as Orihime beams. _I've fallen straight into her trap._ For someone who isn't by nature manipulative, Orihime is very good at getting what she wants.

"Yes, see, you do!" Orihime's smile, though still guileless and completely friendly, shows teeth. "I know you'd enjoy it. Will you please just come with me? I don't want to go by myself."

Again, Ishida reflects on how good Orihime is at calculation for someone who isn't a manipulative person.

He can only think of three reasons why she's doing this.

One, is that Orihime's already asked everybody else and no one would agree to come. Ishida would be the first to admit that he isn't the best company, and that there aren't too many who would be willing to go _anywhere_ with him, either because they don't know him or because he just rubs them the wrong way.

Two: Orihime has some ulterior motive going on that Ishida doesn't know about. While he supposes that that could be it, he doubts it; Orihime can't hide secrets very well from anyone, especially not from someone who's lived with a man who fosters and harbors secrets like his life depends on it. They just surface on her skin instead of sinking below.

Three, is that "Inoue Orihime's Campaign to Make Ishida Uryuu Get Out More" is still on-going. _God_, has that been bothersome.

Ishida chooses not to entertain any more suspicions than that, and especially not the obvious one. Because Orihime likes Kurosaki, and he doesn't see how that's going to change.

Ishida weighs his options.

Go with her, and spend most of the night and maybe some of the early morning finishing his homework.

Refuse, and make Orihime upset. More importantly, make him feel even guiltier for refusing her.

The choice is obvious.

"Alright." Ishida holds up his hands in prime placatory fashion. "I'll go."

Orihime's smile outdoes the sun at this point. "Really?"

"Yes, really." _She's trying to make sure. Maybe Inoue-san is a bit more manipulative than I thought._

"Great! It's at seven; _don't_ be late."

Ishida sighs as he stares down at his bag. He won't be getting any sleep tonight.

_Oh, well. It'll hardly be the first all-nighter I've ever pulled._

And he knows he wouldn't have refused her, anyway.


End file.
